WADDEE MAKE O’ THESE ‘ERE CORNISH ACCENTS, MY ANSUMS??

 When I was exiled on Merseyside during those dark early ‘70s days (see blog April 2), I couldn’t lay my hands on enough reminders of my beloved homeland, especially books. 

 

One of them – a strong recommendation from my Dad, and which certainly didn’t disappoint – was Penmarrick by Susan Howatch.

 

This epic family saga made such an impression on me that I read it twice more, including once even after I had returned to Cornwall.

 

From one of those old letters of my Dad’s, though, it is evident that we agreed that Susan “wasn’t strong on accents.”

 

But he quickly added: “Don’t forget that they vary quite a lot even within Cornwall. The St Ives chat differs from that in Camborne, whilst there is little in common between Penzance and, say, Launceston.

 

“I often squirm when I listen to some actor doing his best to be a Cornishman.  The only person I have ever heard on the radio with an authentic mid-Cornish accent is Hilda Rowse.”

 

Breaking into his own proper Cornish, he remarked: “She d’tell sum ‘ansome yarns when she d’get goin’ and so she ought to.  Hilda was born and raised on a farm between Truro and Probus.”

 

She would have been well before my time, but in my own experience of TV and radio I can think off-hand of only one non-Cornish actor these days who sounds like the real thing.

 

That’s Joe Absolom, as Al Large, in Doc Martin (although Caroline Katz, as Doc’s Louisa, does a pretty good job, too).

 

So many other attempts at a Cornish accent are just plain laughable, aren’t they?

 

As for getting accents right in books, I learnt from my own little foray into novel-writing just how difficult it can be, in more ways than one.

 

It’s a bit of a dilemma. On the one hand, the more accurate you make the accents, the more you risk making it hard work for the readers as they try to make head or tail of the unfamiliar spellings.

 

But on the other, if you only insert the accent sparingly, the whole thing will immediately come across as unreal – “ee wouldn’ talk like ‘at!” the knowledgeable Cornish reader would immediately complain. 

 

Spot the inconsistency for yourself.  The next time you read a character starting to speak in a supposedly Cornish way, see how quickly they will not drop an H or two when they should!